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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Emily Schmidt

Emily Schmidt is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her most recent research explores household livelihood strategies in Papua New Guinea, including linkages between agriculture, poverty, and nutrition outcomes among rural smallholder farmers.

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What we do

Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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partnerships

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), led by IWMI, is dedicated to making agri-food systems environmentally and socially sustainable. They do so by taking scientific findings from across disciplines and applying this knowledge to effect large scale changes in how agricultural interventions and investments are made. WLE also works to increase the resilience of communities and farmers who are part of these systems.

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Projects

Scaling up experiential learning tools for sustainable water governance in India

Scaling up experiential learning tools for sustainable water governance in India

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Gender-Sensitive Risks and Options Assessment for Decision Making (ROAD) to Support Work in Freedom Phase 2 (WiF-2)

Gender-Sensitive Risks and Options Assessment for Decision Making (ROAD) to Support Work in Freedom Phase 2 (WiF-2)

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Ethiopian Energy Development Strategy

Ethiopian Energy Development Strategy

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Publications

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Working Paper

Irrigation schemes in Ethiopia’s Awash River Basin: An examination of physical, knowledge, and governance infrastructures

2024Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Yimam, Seid; Arega, Tiruwork; Alemu, Tekie; Gonfa, Kidist H.; Ringler, Claudia
Details

Irrigation schemes in Ethiopia’s Awash River Basin: An examination of physical, knowledge, and governance infrastructures

Using a representative sample of irrigation schemes, the study documents the physical, knowledge, and governance infrastructures of irrigation schemes in Ethiopia’s most intensively used river basin, the Awash. The findings show that about 20 percent of the equipped area of irrigation schemes in the basin is not being irrigated, while the number of actual beneficiaries on average exceeds the number of planned beneficiaries. The results also show significant knowledge gaps among irrigation scheme managers, extension agents, and leaders of water users’ associations (WUAs): 96 percent of them do not know the total water withdrawals or the irrigation water requirement per season. About 14 percent of the surveyed irrigation schemes have neither traditional water committees nor WUAs, and only 21 percent are organized in legally registered WUAs despite a substantial number of identified benefits of these organizations. Moreover, only 58 out of 489 irrigation schemes have women committee members. Many schemes lack a clear strategy for covering maintenance costs: almost 40 percent of schemes collect contributions from members only when the system fails, while 17 percent report no contributions for maintenance at all suggesting considerable risk of system deterioration and failure. The results challenge some of the assumptions about irrigation infrastructure in Ethiopia and confirm and quantify other assumptions in the literature.

Year published

2024

Authors

Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Yimam, Seid; Arega, Tiruwork; Alemu, Tekie; Gonfa, Kidist H.; Ringler, Claudia

Citation

Mekonnen, Dawit K.; Yimam, Seid; Arega, Tiruwork; Alemu, Tekie; Gonfa, Kidist H.; and Ringler, Claudia. 2024. Irrigation schemes in Ethiopia’s Awash River Basin: An examination of physical, knowledge, and governance infrastructures. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2287. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/158200

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Irrigation Schemes; Infrastructure; Awash River; River Basins; Advisory Officers; Water User Associations; Women

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Working Paper

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Journal Article

Reconciling conservation and development requires enhanced integration and broader aims: A cross- continental assessment of landscape approaches

2024
Estrada Carmona, Natalia; Carmenta, Rachel; Reed, James; Betemariam, Ermias; Declerck, Fabrice; Falk, Thomas; Hart, Abigail K; Jones, Sarah K; Kleinschroth, Fritz; McCartney, Matthew
…more Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Milder, Jeff; Quintero, Marcela; Remans, Roseline; Valbuena, Diego; Willement, Louise; Zanzanaini, Camilla; Zhang, Wei
Details

Reconciling conservation and development requires enhanced integration and broader aims: A cross- continental assessment of landscape approaches

Expectations for agricultural landscapes in subtropical and tropical regions are high, aiming for conservation and development amid climate change, unfair trade, poverty, and environmental degradation. Landscape approaches (LAs) are gaining momentum as means to reconcile expectations, although they face multiple challenges, including unclear distinctions among LAs and stakeholder involvement. We studied 380 LAs from three continents via questionnaires with landscape managers (2012–2015 and 2021) and identified three LA types through cluster analysis: an ‘‘integrated’’ type with longer-term, multisectoral goals involving various stakeholders early in the design and two shorter-term types focused on sectoral priorities of preservation or production. Better-performing LAs are associated with longevity, inclusivity, and diversified investments across goals, notably those enabling social justice. International stakeholder analysis shows broad support for LAs but identifies gaps between support and LAs’ needs. The growing interest in LAs is promising. Yet, underpinning effective and lasting LAs that reconcile multiple expectations requires better support.

Year published

2024

Authors

Estrada Carmona, Natalia; Carmenta, Rachel; Reed, James; Betemariam, Ermias; Declerck, Fabrice; Falk, Thomas; Hart, Abigail K; Jones, Sarah K; Kleinschroth, Fritz; McCartney, Matthew; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Milder, Jeff; Quintero, Marcela; Remans, Roseline; Valbuena, Diego; Willement, Louise; Zanzanaini, Camilla; Zhang, Wei

Citation

Estrada Carmona, N.; Carmenta, R.; Reed, J.; Betemariam, E.; Declerck, F.; Falk, T.; Hart, A.K.; Jones, S.K.; Kleinschroth, F.; McCartney, M.; Meinzen-Dick, R.; Milder, J.; Quintero, M.; Remans, R.; Valbuena, D.; Willement, L.; Zanzanaini, C.; Zhang, W. (2024) Reconciling conservation and development requires enhanced integration and broader aims: A cross-continental assessment of landscape approaches. One Earth 7 (10) : p.1858 – 1873. ISSN: 2590-3330.

Keywords

Diversification; Agriculture; Resilience; Landscape Approaches

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2024.08.014 Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Journal Article

Article has an altmetric score of 19
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Working Paper

Small-scale irrigation protects farmers from climate-extreme events: Insights from the 2015/2016 ENSO in Ethiopia

2024Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Marilign, Yalew M.; Warner, James; Ringler, Claudia
Details

Small-scale irrigation protects farmers from climate-extreme events: Insights from the 2015/2016 ENSO in Ethiopia

The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weather event of 2015/16 caused severe drought conditions in northern and central Ethiopia affecting the welfare of millions of farmers in late 2015 and early 2016. Using nationally representative panel data collected in 2012 and 2016 and recent advances in the difference-indifferences literature, this paper explores the effects of the 2015/16 drought and the potential role of irrigation in reducing the adverse effects of the drought. We find that the drought caused, on average, a 37 percent reduction in net annual crop income, an 8 percent decline in area cultivated, a 3 percent decline in household dietary diversity score, and a 10 percent decline in the share of harvest sold for rainfed farmers. On the other hand, irrigating farmers affected by the drought managed to increase their daily expenditures by 72 percent of their average daily food expenditure in the pre-drought period, and maintained their net crop income, size of cultivated land, household dietary diversity, and share of harvest sold to the market. Overall, while rainfed agricultural producers suffered sharp declines in welfare, those farmers with access to irrigation maintained their economic status. The results suggest that irrigation protected farmers from the adverse effects of the 2015/16 ENSO event and given increasing climate variability in Ethiopia, the government should intensify its investment and support to irrigation development in the country.

Year published

2024

Authors

Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Marilign, Yalew M.; Warner, James; Ringler, Claudia

Citation

Mekonnen, Dawit K.; Marilign, Yalew M.; Warner, James; and Ringler, Claudia. 2024. Small-scale irrigation protects farmers from climate-extreme events: Insights from the 2015/2016 ENSO in Ethiopia. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2242. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/139780

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Drought; Irrigation; Resilience; Farmers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Working Paper

Events

Boosting synergies and managing trade-offs in food systems
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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October 21, 2021, 8:00 – 9:00 am

Boosting synergies and managing trade-offs in food systems

Virtual Event: OCT 21, 2021 – 08:00 AM to 09:00 AM EDT. This webinar discusses evidence, actions and lessons learned on how to leverage biodiversity in our food systems for people and planet. 

Accelerating clean energy access in rural areas
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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October 5, 2021, 8:00 – 9:00 am

Accelerating clean energy access in rural areas

Virtual Event: OCT 5, 2021 – 08:00 AM to 09:00 AM EDT. This webinar will present research that can help countries enhance smallholder access to clean energy and address climate adaptation/ mitigation challenges. 

Migration and Gender Dynamics in Irrigation Governance in Nepal
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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November 25, 2020, 8:00 – 9:30 pm

Migration and Gender Dynamics in Irrigation Governance in Nepal

Widespread male migration from rural areas is one of the most important forces shaping agrarian transformation in Nepal. One particularly important area affected is the governance and management of local public goods, especially irrigation systems. Given the crucial role of irrigation in agricultural productivity and food security, attention to gender in irrigation governance is not […]

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Blogs

Accelerating rural energy access in the race to net zero carbon emissions
IFPRI Blog
 | 
January 07, 2022

Accelerating rural energy access in the race to net zero carbon emissions

By Marilia Magalhaes and Claudia Ringler

Bringing key innovations to smallholders.

A behavioral perspective on improving water governance in India
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 29, 2021

A behavioral perspective on improving water governance in India

By Thomas Falk, Dennis Schüpf, Wei Zhang, and Ilkhom Soliev

Insights into achieving sustainable irrigation.

Optimizing seasonal-spatial crop production to improve its economic-environmental performance in Bangladesh
IFPRI Blog
 | 
November 17, 2021

Optimizing seasonal-spatial crop production to improve its economic-environmental performance in Bangladesh

By Man Li, Zhe Guo, and Wei Zhang

The advantages of science-based land use planning.

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